‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’: Where are they now?

When was the last time you bunked off work? What did you do with your day? If you're anything like us you sat on the sofa feeling increasingly guilty, before rolling into the office at midday claiming you've made a miraculous recovery. Coward.

Ferris Bueller knew what he was doing when he pulled a sicky. For him it was all Ferrari theft and hijacking carnival floats.

In an ideal world we'd love to look him up and see what he's doing with his time, these days. Alas, spoiler alert, he's a fictional character, so the best we can do is check in on the man who played Ferris, Matthew Broderick. And it's only polite to find out what the rest of the cast are up to as well, while we're at it...

Matthew Broderick (Ferris Bueller)

Well, he's hardly struggled since playing Ferris, at 23. In the 1989 film Glory, he received good reviews for his portrayal of the American Civil War officer Robert Gould Shaw, whom Broderick massively resembled at the time.

In the 1990s, he voiced Simba, in The Lion King, before appearing alongside Jim Carrey in ShortList favourite The Cable Guy.

His passion, though, lies in theatre and he starred in the Tony-award winning musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and went on to star in The Producers, which he later took to the big screen alongside Uma Thurman.

During all this, of course, he married Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker and after 18 years are still married, with kids.

One of his finest moments, though, was this appearance as a grown up Ferris for a Honda Superbowl ad which provoked us all, if only for a minute, into wanting a sequel. Probably best that didn't happen.

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Alan Ruck (Cameron Frye)

Interestingly, in 1985 (pre-Day Off), Ruck made his Broadway debut in Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues alongside one Matthew Broderick. He was 29 when he played 17-year-old Cameron.

Post-Ferris he played Hendry William French in Young Guns II and Captain John Harriman in the 1994 film Star Trek Generations. Alan also played Doug Stephens a passenger on the doom-laden bus in Speed, before appearing as Robert 'Rabbit' Nurick in the 1996 film Twister.

From 1996–2002, he played Stuart Bondek in Spin City alongside Michael J. Fox and later, Charlie Sheen. In 2005, he played Leo Bloom in the Broadway version of Mel Brooks' The Producers, a role also played by Broderick. Single episodes of Scrubs and Stargate Atlantis followed before, in 2007, he appeared in comedy Kickin' It Old Skool, as Dr. Frye, a nod to his previous character Cameron Frye. On one occasion he even mentions still trying to pay off an old Ferrari.

In 2010 he guest starred as ex-money laundering accountant turned dentist on an episode of Justified and popped up in NCIS in September. So he's doing just fine, thank you very much for asking.

Interesting fact: he's married to Mireille Enos, best known for The Killing and World War Z.

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Mia Sara (Sloane Peterson)

Sara's breakthrough role came in the mid-1980s as Princess Lili, playing opposite Tom Cruise in Legend, a movie which helped her land her role as Ferris's girlfriend in Day Off.

Since then the girl with two first names has steered clear of the limelight somewhat - the most recent pic we could find (above) is from 2005! In 1994 she starred opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme in Timecop, for which she won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Television roles included Annie Knox in the sci-fi series Time Trax from 1993 to 1994 and Dr. Harleen (Harley Quinn) Quinzel in the doomed WB Network superhero show Birds of Prey.

Most interesting, perhaps, is her off-screen goings-on. Awesomely she holds a private pilot license and, in March 1996, married Jason Connery, the son of Sean Connery. The couple divorced in 2002 and she is now married to Brian Henson, oldest son of Muppets creator Jim Henson.

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Jennifer Grey (Jeanie Bueller)

The year after Day Off, she reunited with Patrick Swayze, whom she had played opposite in Red Dawn, to play "Baby" in Dirty Dancing. You've probably heard of it. She was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress.

Grey herself acknowledges that plastic surgery had a negative impact on her career, with few roles forthcoming until March 1999 when she starred as herself in the short-lived ABC sitcom It's Like, You Know..., which included a running gag about her nose job.

She appeared with Shirley MacLaine, Liza Minnelli and Kathy Bates in the CBS television movie The West Side Waltz and she had a small role in the 2000 film Bounce with Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck.

In 2010, she appeared in House before becoming a contestant in Dancing With the Stars, which she won.

In 2011 Grey stood in for Len Goodman as a judge on Strictly Come Dancing.

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Oh and another marriage twist: her husband is Clark Gregg, aka Agent Coulson from The Avengers.

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Ben Stein (Economics Teacher)

A show stealing (and unscripted) performance thanks to his monotone "Bueller"s and his mind-numbingly dull "anyone"s, Stein was actually a speechwriter for presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, before turning to acting.

Post-Day Off he had a recurring role in the TV series The Wonder Years, before appearing in a string of adverts including many for Clear Eyes. In 1997, Stein was given his own game show by Comedy Central called Win Ben Stein's Money along with co-host Jimmy Kimmel. Cash contestants won on the show was brilliantly subtracted from the $5,000 pay that Stein earned per episode.

Stein has also appeared in Seinfeld, The Mask, MacGyver; Richie Rich, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II and, more latterly, as Rabbi Goldberg in Family Guy.

These days he's very much a political commentator writing a regular column in The American Spectator.

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Kristy Swanson (Simone Adamley)

In 1986, she debuted in two John Hughes films: Pretty In Pink, in a non-speaking role, and Day Off as a classmate of Ferris who gives a woefully convoluted excuse for his absence: "Um, he's sick. My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it's pretty serious."

The following year she starred in Wes Craven's Deadly Friend, before playing Buffy in the 1992 movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Roles in Hot Shots!, The Chase and Higher Learning followed before she appeared in the film adaptation of the comic-book The Phantom, with Billy Zane playing the superhero. It didn't do brilliantly.

She appeared in and won the 2006 Skating with Celebrities and made a cameo appearance in the "Don't You Forget About Me" episode of One Tree Hill, which was a homage to Day Off director John Hughes.

Oh and she also starred in Swamp Shark, which we haven't seen, but ordered on Amazon the moment we found out. Will report back.

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Edie McClurg (Grace)

Usually playing loveable ladies McClurg conversely made her onscreen debut as one of Carrie's classmates and tormentors, in the 1976 Brian De Palma horror Carrie.

After Ferris she appeared in A River Runs Through It before a brilliant turn as the car-rental agent whom Steve Martin rips into in Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Relive that NSFW moment, here.

On top of that she's provided voice work for The Jetsons, A Bug's Life, Cars, Cars 2, The Little Mermaid and Wreck-It Ralph.

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Charlie Sheen (Boy in police station)

You probably know what this cheeky chap's been up to. In the same year Ferris came out Sheen appeared in Platoon and The Wraith before Wall Street in 1987, Major League in 1989, Hot Shots! in 1991, Hot Shots! Part Deux in 1993 and Scary Movie 3 in 2003.

In 2010 he was the highest paid actor on TV, thanks to Two And A Half Men, but thanks to calling Chuck Lorre, the creator and producer of the show a “turd” and a “contaminated little maggot” things didn't stay that way.

After his much publicised meltdown, in 2011, Sheen was 'roasted' on Comedy Central. It was watched by 6.4 million people, making it the highest rated roast to date.

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The Frye Household (370 Beech Street, IL 60035)

This is sad tale. The 4-bedroom home of Cameron Frye, which upstaged Ferris's home with ease and saw Cameron send his father's Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder through the window, was designed in 1953 by notable architect A. James Speyer. The iconic garage was then built in the 70s to house the then owners’ exotic car collection.

Things have gone badly for the home since. It was first listed for sale at $2.3 million in 2009. By 2010, the price dropped to $1.8 million, and by 2011 it was slashed to $1.65 million.